Auto makers beat year-end blues; post healthy jump in Dec sales

Defying the usual trend of low sales in the last month of a year, major auto makers such as Hyundai, Tata Motors and TVS posted a robust growth in their dispatches during December 2010.

In December, sales are generally low as customers stay away from new purchases to avoid losing out on re-sale when the year of manufacture comes into play.

The country's second largest car maker Hyundai Motor India reported a 17.60% jump in its domestic sales at 26,168 units in last month as against 22,252 units in the same month in 2009.

For the entire 2010 calendar year, the company registered a total sales jump of 7.85% at 6,03,819 units compared to 5,59,880 units in the previous year. This is the first time that its annual sales crossed the six lakh units-mark.

Homegrown Tata Motors' passenger vehicles sales in the domestic market in December 2010 stood at 19,706 units, which is a jump of 34.48% from the same month previous year.

Another auto maker Mahindra & Mahindra reported a 41.92% jump in its sales at 34,062 units in December 2010, over the same period previous year.

Car maker General Motors India saw its sales growing by 2.54% to 8,468 units in last month from 8,258 units in the same month of the previous year.

In the entire 2010, it sold a total of 1,10,804 units, compared to 69,579 units a year ago, translating into a growth of 59.25%.

Toyota Kirloskar Motor's sales in December last year grew by 5.47% at 6,359 units. For 2010 calender year, it reported 37.63% jump in its sales at 74,759 units compared to 54,320 units in the previous year.

Car maker Ford India saw its sales for 2010 climbing by 184% to 83,887 units from 29,488 units in 2009.

On the two-wheelers front, TVS Motor reported a 41% jump by selling 1,68,359 units in December 2010 as against 1,19,701 units in the same period of the previous year.

Honda Motorcycle & Scooter India (HMSI) posted 20% growth in sales at 1,40,642 units in December 2010, over the same month previous year.

Two-wheeler maker India Yamaha Motor reported a 69.71% increase in its total sales in December 2010 at 34,839 units.

For the entire 2010, the company's sales increased by 30.75% to 3,50,264 units from 2,67,895 units in 2009.